The rodeo, which ran from July 25-27 at 8 p.m. nightly, attracted an average of 200 contestants each evening that competed for prize money and were cheered on by approximately 6,500 fans.

The stands were filled with families. “It’s a family-oriented event,” Brittany Jenkins, a woman in the stands, said.

The rodeo opened with junior calf roping, and was followed by a chicken chase, the girls breakaway, and women’s breakaway.

A watermelon race with donkeys provided the most laughs for the stands as teens – muddy from head to toe – chased after donkeys and mostly failed to mount them and gather watermelons and return them to the gate.

After a humorous interception, teams of two men performed the ribbon rope followed by barrel racing by juniors and adults and mixed-team roping.

Nearly 10 men mounted the bull, but by the end of the night only one made it eight seconds, Kurtis Turner, who returned from his mission the night before. He scored an 81 out of a possible 100 points, and his bull was the only one to put on the show by knocking over the barrel clown and chasing him around like a soccer ball.

The 2013 Miss Rodeo Royalty made appearances throughout the night and consisted of second princess, Cameo Jo Vogel, 11, first princess McKinley Drake, 13, and Brittney Fisher, 17, as queen – all from St. George.

The event was announced by Kalvin Bowler and the barrel clown was Jared Stores.

Livestock was provided by Veyo-Gunlock Cattle Association.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.

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About the Author

Sarah Isaacson graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor's in English, an emphasis in Creative Writing, and a minor in Spanish. She has written for the Daily Herald, published a semi-autobiographical short story called “Melanie” in Touchstones Literary Journal, covered the fitness industry for the Examiner, and in 2012 her first spec for the hit TV series "Shameless" made the top-5 percentile of the Warner Brother’s Television Writer’s Program. Sarah's personal blog is www.sarahtoday.com and her twitter is @SarahIsaacson1